On June 11, Grammy-winning pop singer Rob Thomas will be the featured performer at Promises2Kids’ annual “Dream On” gala in La Jolla. But to those associated with Promises2Kids, the real star of the show is Deborah Marengo. The longtime donor and volunteer created the “Dream On” concerts 10 years...

Every Monday for the past seven years, Pat Guerrero has taken a long lunch break from work to hand-deliver hard-boiled eggs and string cheese to the homeless in Mission Beach. Guerrero is known to the small community of unsheltered men and women at Mariners Point Park as the “egg and cheese lady,”...

When Schubach Aviation’s charter jet pilots take to the skies, they’re flying for more than just their clients’ needs. They’re also logging miles for charities that have benefited over the past six years from Schubach’s “penny-per-mile” program. This year, Schubach jets should log about 1.2 million...

Louis Vener was just nine years old when his father handed him a paint-roller and encouraged him to pitch in on a community synagogue-building project in 1950s Chula Vista. Nearly 60 years later, the La Jolla resident is still pitching in for his community. He recently finished up a 15-year stretch...

For nearly 30 years, Bill Kolender was San Diego’s top lawman, serving as police chief for 13 years and county sheriff for an additional 15. But to Randi Kolender-Hock, he was simply “Dad” and her job is honoring Kolender’s memory by fighting the disease that robbed his own. Kolender-Hock, a Del...

On the afternoon of Jan. 12, 2010, Edeline Felizor was leading a class at a teachers college in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, when the building began to sway. At 4:53 p.m. that day, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the island nation, laying waste to its capital city and killing more than 160,000 people....

In 1998, local singer/songwriter Teresa Gunn got a desperate phone call from a high school for homeless teens. The school wanted Gunn to volunteer her time teaching a 12-week course in songwriting to help the students earn enough arts credits to receive their high school diplomas. “I am the wrong...

When their son, Dylan, was born 10 years ago, Diana and Walter DuMelle wanted to teach him the values that were most important to them: love, kindness, generosity and hope for a peaceful world. They gave their son the middle name Bodhi, the tree under which Buddha found enlightenment. A few years...

Last June, a dozen San Diego philanthropists held a check-passing ceremony to deliver more than $20,000 they’d raised for mental health charities. The event sounds routine, except for the fact that the philanthropists were all members of the Jewish Teen Foundation, a philanthropic council of local...

More Making a Difference

At age 88, Korean War veteran Stan Levin has earned the right to spend all his evenings in the warm comfort of his Serra Mesa home. But several nights a month for the past six years, Levin has patrolled the streets of downtown San Diego, handing out free sleeping bags, socks and snacks to homeless...

To get a better idea about how far Emilio Carranza-Davis has come in his young life, just ask him what his favorite days of the year are. Christmas isn’t one of them. Because for this former foster youth and current Eagle Scout and scholarship student, Christmas is just another day to remember...

Back in 2003, the plug was unexpectedly pulled on an annual Christmas party for local foster kids. That didn’t sit well with Peggy Goldsmith. The longtime volunteer for the county’s Foster Youth Mentor Program was heartbroken by the budget cut. She knew that for many of these children, the party...

As the son of successful entrepreneurs, 13-year-old Kenan Pala was born with a head for creative problem-solving. Fortunately for San Diego’s homeless community, his head has been focused for the past few years on making their lives better. Pala is the founder of Kids 4 Community, a youth-focused...

First you give thanks, then you give back. That is the theme behind Giving Tuesday, a day of organized giving designed to support the world’s nonprofits while capitalizing on the generous spirit of the holidays. Held on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the U.S., this year’s Giving Tuesday falls...

The first time Azareel Canizales came to the Barrio Logan College Institute, all he could think about was, “When can I leave?” Soon would have been good. Immediately would have been better. Four years and many epiphanies later, the 15-year-old Barrio Logan resident is happy to admit that he was...

One of Molly Eldredge’s favorite quotes is by the 18th-century thinker Georg Lichtenberg: “In each of us, there is a little of all of us.” In her years of international travel, community service and philanthropy, the La Jolla resident said that the more she sees of the world, the more she realizes...

Over the summer, 130 bicyclists from across North America pedaled up to 4,300 miles across Canada for charity. On the 57th and final day of the trip, they pedaled to the Atlantic Ocean seashore in Nova Scotia behind the group’s oldest rider, 81-year-old Jim Beezhold of Pauma Valley. Beezhold, a...

Before he took his own life in 2005, Todd Kennemer surrounded himself with “grace.” The 25-year-old musician and artist created a small stencil of the word and spray-painted it on the sidewalks near his favorite places, so wherever he went in his daily travels he’d always walk in grace. Today,...

On Oct. 14, Glenn and Claudia Sinkule will join the hundreds of San Diegans participating in this year’s Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, the annual fundraiser for the YWCA of San Diego and its Becky’s House domestic-violence programs. The Oceanside couple will be walking to honor the memory of their daughter...

There are talkers in this world and there are doers. Bill and Gretchen Morgan are the latter and they’ve found a perfect partner for their “doing” in Just in Time for Foster Youth. Since 2012, the Morgans have not only donated to the San Diego nonprofit — which helps foster children transition...

San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood struggles with crime and poverty and a shortage of everything from parks to doctors. But for 22-year-old resident Jhaga Mahat,the biggest challenge of living in City Heights is getting people to see it the way he does. “When I tell people I live here, they say...

The day Nancy Tran went snowboarding with Outdoor Outreach was a day of firsts. It was her first field trip with Outdoor Outreach, a San Diego-based nonprofit that gives at-risk and underprivileged kids the chance to explore nature and experience outdoor recreational activities. It was the first...

Some of them are partial to “Stardust.” Others want to hear “I’m in the Mood for Love.” And “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” always brings down the house. But when Trevor Gibson wraps up one of his frequent piano-playing stints at St. Paul’s Senior Services in Hillcrest, he always hears the same request....

Making a Difference

For an hour on Wednesday, 3-year-old Ivy Fondots was just like any other little girl who loves horses. Dressed in pink cowboy boots and short overalls, the Oceanside toddler squealed with delight when the trail horse “Doc” took a carrot from her hand. Then she shouted “Giddyap!” as they ambled...

When a group of friends started the Poway Veterans Organization in 2014, their goal was to lend a hand to military veterans living in Poway and Ramona. But somewhere along the way, that mission grew. Over the past three years, the small, all-volunteer group has helped out veterans from Imperial...

For new parents at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, a program offering non-denominational blessings for their recently arrived bundles of joy is a lovely addition to an already miraculous experience. For volunteer Dawn Christiansen, welcoming these new arrivals into the world has been a blessing unto...

Bill Loeber isn’t quite sure what possessed him, but four years ago at a town hall meeting he challenged a local congressman to do more for out-of-work veterans. To his surprise, the politician turned the question around and asked Loeber what he was willing to do to help. Loeber didn’t hesitate....

It was a sweltering day in San Diego, and the sun was beating down on the roof of the Oak Park house like the sky had turned its high beams on. It was relentlessly bright and extremely hot. Just like Mohamed Hauter likes it. Hauter is a volunteer with GRID Alternatives San Diego, the local branch...

Twenty-six years ago, Hollyce Phillips was at the top of her game as the host of a morning news show on Seattle television. Then one day she woke up and couldn’t hear a sound. Her profound deafness, caused by an auto-immune disease, ended her on-air career, but led to renewed purpose. Today, the...